Slayer Mine
by Piccolo's Love Slave
Summary: A Dragonball ZBuffy The Vampire Slayer Crossover. Though the slayer in this tale is my original character, all other characters and likenesses of dbz and btvs belong to thier rightful owners. Enjoy! (Finished)
1. A Slayer's Work

She had been running. Her breath felt like fire in her lungs, her chest burned. But not as much as the tears lingering, threatening, ever-present behind her eyes aching to fall.aching to course down her cheeks in childlike fashion and shame her more than she was feeling as she ran. She forced herself onward. She could not stop. She must not stop. She had to run until everything was normal again. Until she could go home again.  
  
But she could never go home.  
  
She felt the wind at her face, shoving her hair back and whipping the long strands into her face. She could not go home. She had been running away from home for three years. She could never go back. Never. She would rather die. Shew would rather die a hundred deaths each more horrible than the last than return to.that.place.  
  
She could not continue. Gasping, feeling herself that much more the weakling because of it, she pulled to a stop on someone's front lawn, gulping in huge lungfuls of air while the fire in her chest and throat slowly died down. She leaned over, hands on her knees, looking at the ground and seeing nothing.  
  
The tears had begun to fall, silently, trailing their routes down her cheeks and off the tip of nose to disapear somewhere within the tangle of half-dead autumn grass beneath her feet. She had not been entirely sure, now that she'd stopped, exactly what it was she had been running from.  
  
She should not have been running in the first place. She was the Slayer. She was soppose to.slay. Not run. She felt all mixed up. She'd felt mixed up since she'd walked away from the only home she'd ever known. All her days seemed a dull mixture of the one before, the night blending in with all the others, each as unremarkable as the next; Run, fight, Slay, Run, Eat, Sleep. An endless circle that seemed to lead her nowhere.  
  
A snarling behind her and to both sides brought her swiftly out of her reverie. She gasped as she stood up, blinking the teary haze from her dark brown eyes. She could sense them.the pain in her gut always told her when they were near. She reached into the backpack slung over her back and pulled out a sharpened wooden stake. One of several she carried everywhere she went. She may try to run away from what she was. But, it never worked. Not for long. They always came for her.drawn to her like a moth to a flame. And she needed to be prepared at all times.  
  
Almost too fast to see, they ambushed her. Five waif-thin monsters whose strength and swiftness belied their delicate appearance. She knew that looks could be deceiving as she spun about, leaped, kicked, caught the first one in the jaw, sent it sprawing. She knew it would a mere moment before it was on it's feet again, scrambling after her. She did not pause to give it leave. She raised the stake, tossed it in the air, spun about and kicked, her heel hitting the stake in just the right position and it slammed into the chest of the monster, who was dust in less than a heartbeat, littering the street.  
  
"Okay! Who's next?!" She cried, her body tensed, ready for action, couched into a fighting stance. She knew they would not cease to come for her. Vampires had thick skulls, in more ways than one. A fallen comrade did not jar their minds to think; "Hey, she really kicked his ass.maybe we'd better back off." No, they came as though driven by a force outside themselves and perhaps that was what it was, she would not have argued had someone voiced the thought aloud to her.  
  
She met the next one with a series of leaps and punches that worked to stun the vamp and confuse it with the blur of her motion more than it actually hurt it. She used his momentary lose of consentration to make it's last moments very pointy and quite dusty. The others she took care of in much the same manner, sighing when her stake had penetrated the last vampire's chest and the skeleton lingered for a moment on her weapon before puffing into so much ash and carried away by the breeze.  
  
She fell to her knees in the street, embracing herself and sobbing. It hadn't aways been this way. She knew. There was a time when she could fight and slay without thought of anything save her work.her duty. She did not understand why she felt such.emptiness inside. She did not understand why should be feeling anything but pride at a job well done.  
  
Her heart felt like a cold stone in her chest. Had not it been beating beneath her fingers she would have thought herself dead. Like those she had just lain waist to. Somehow, though the thought was almost too horrid to bear, she almost wished she were. There had to more to life than this.hadn't there? More to life than running from one squat to the next, digging through dumpsters to survive, killing whatever vamp or demon to come seeking her.Hadn't there?  
  
She shrugged, her shoulders drooped, all her energy gone now. She was without a family or a Watcher and she was too ashamed to seek out friendship among her peers...those of the street her own age or a bit older. She kept herself mostly, certain that no one would want to give her the time of day, for all that she was saving their lives almost every single night she was around. Had they known.but she curbed that thought before it could start. What mattered if they ever knew or not. It would make no difference even if they did.  
  
She shoved her dark hair over her shoulders and continued walking. She was returning to the place she'd found last night to sleep at. An crevice on a roof between two old buildings, enclosed enough to provide some protection and the overhanging eaves allowed the weather to be kept at bay. She liked it most of all because it was high above the world and she could look down and not feel like such a worthless failure.  
  
She swiped her tears from her eyes with the sleeve of her ratty sweater and wished with all her being that things were different. Maybe in a perfect world it could have been. She snorted a half laugh, half sob. Yeah, and maybe I'll be swept off my feet by my knight in shining armor and taken to a castle in the sky! The sarcasm in her tone inside her head was as biting as the chill night air. 


	2. More Than Fate

Piccolo had been following her for several blocks. At first he was a bit concerned about her. She was so small and alone and the night held many dangers. He knew only too well. Not that he was afraid. He could take care of himself. He always could. So he followed at a pace safe enough to be out of her sight and sensing range, if she could sense others the way he could sense them, and the way she had clutched at her stomach and winced just before those creatures had attacked her, he was quite certain that she could.  
  
He was unsure, exactly, just why he felt the need to follow her. She was a homeless girl, of that he was certain, it showed in her unkept apperance, her torn and threadbare clothing and her hollowed eyes and guant cheeks. But, she was also much more than a mere homeless child. After seeing her put an end to the monsters who had decided to ambush her from all sides on a deserted stretch of road, the powerful namek had absolutly no doubt of that.  
  
Not quite knowing why, but feeling as if what he did had to be, he had trailed her.watching her and waiting for the chance to appoach her when she was less.distraught. He did not know what, other than being alone and unsheltered on a cold October night, was exactly were the cause of her despair. He only knew that he had to help her, somehow, even if she refused. Some force other than himself seemed to pushing him towards her like a lodestone to metal.  
  
It was the most infuriating feeling he'd ever experienced and he did not enjoy it one iota! Piccolo's cape fluttered about him and he shivered in spite of himself. Wiether from the cold or from something else even he could not have said. He followed the girl to her resting place on the roof between the buildings, standing vigil, as he'd done the night before, below, always mindful of any possibility of danger to either himself or to the girl resting fitfully above.  
  
She did not sleep. Not this night. She was too full of pain and contempt for herself to even entertain the possibilty of sleep. She wrapped her flea- ridden hole-filled blanket about her shoulders and stood, balancing precariously on the ledge as the blanket fluttered out behind her. She raised her arms to her sides, throwing her head back as the blanket, caught on the wind, flew from her shoulders to flutter away and down, so far.far down.like a gaint dead leaf from a shedding tree.  
  
She thought, for half an instant, that perhaps what she was doing was wrong. That the world needed her. Needed her abilitlies as the slayer. Then she washed that thought clean of her head and opened her eyes, looking straight down. She knew doing so would make her dizzy and unable to resist the oncoming vertigo she would be unable to halt what she'd begun.  
  
Everything was better once. She thought. Before. But it can never be better. It can only be now. And in this now she did not want to be. She took a deep breath and stepped off the edge, steeling herself for the hard, bone-crushing, blood-splattering end which would in moments be her's and her's alone.  
  
He felt the disturbance almost before he'd seen the light blue piece of clothe that could have been a blanket at one time fell from the height of the building he knew she was soppose to be resting on. He floated upwards, gaining speed when he saw her, his heart leapt in his chest and seemed to freeze and just for a mere half-second he feared he'd be too late.  
  
Then she was in his arms and he was carrying her to the ground, to safety. He did not know what had just possessed her to throw herself from such a height, and one who could not fly, he knew she did not know how to as she had always climbed up to her vantage point, falling from such a height would only mean a very messy death.  
  
She opened her eyes, focused them and blinked, unsure of what she was seeing was reality or some last hallucination before death. She did not have time to wonder as a sudden blanket thicker than the blackest fog closed it's demanding hand over her and closed her within it's grip. Her last thought before she passed out was that of knights in shining armor.only this time she did not hear any biting sarcasm.  
  
Piccolo looked at the girl he held. No more than a child really. Dirty and underfed. He looked at her and wondered what he was soppose to do with her now. He had saved her. He had felt compelled to. Now what? 


	3. A New Watcher

He'd been standing over her for the last four hours. The hotel he'd checked them into was small and cheap but at least everything looked and smelled clean. He'd put her in the bed and watched her sleep, fitfully, ever since they'd arrived. She hadn't fully awoken once, only tossed in and out of dreams that he could tell by her thrashing weren't all candy and roses.  
  
He'd turned away for a moment, just a split second, when she woke up. He turned around to see her standing on the bed, crouched down defensively, one of her sharpened stakes in her hand. She was breathing heavily and glancing around, reminding him of a cornered animal. He tried to smile but with his fangs it made him look even more terrifying and she raised the stake higher.  
  
"W-where am I?" She asked in a voice that shook in spite of her brave front, she narrowed her eyes, "Who are you?"  
  
"I am called Piccolo." He said, making sure to keep his voice calm and soothing, hoping to ease her fears, "I brought you here to keep you safe."  
  
"Why?" She asked, not moving, her features suspecious, "What's in it for you?"  
  
He shrugged, not knowing himself. "It just.seemed the thing to do."  
  
"Y-your not going to kill me?" She asked, undoubtly thinking of demons who needed slayer blood in some ancient rite or some such thing, "Or I should say, try."  
  
He raised an eye ridge and regarded her coolly, "If that had been my aim, girl, you'd be dead now."  
  
She did not reply and all of a sudden a basket appeared from nowhere in his hand, he held it out to her and placed it on the floor and backed away where she did not move to take it.  
  
"What's this?" She asked, keeping her eyes on him as she jumped off the bed and reached down for the basket. Lifting the clothe which covered the top her eyes widened her head, "Food! How did you.?"  
  
"Nevermind." Piccolo said, "I know you are hungry. You haven't eaten since yesterday morning when you found that half a hamburger someone had thrown out."  
  
"You've been following me!" She accused, but her stomach growled loudly and her mouth was near to watering. She grabbed the a piece of chicken and started eating, sitting down crossed-legged on the floor, the stake in her lap between her legs, "I should kill you for that."  
  
"Well," He smiled, "You can certainly try."  
  
"If I weren't so hungry," She said between bites, "I would!"  
  
"I'll keep that in mind." Piccolo said, folding his arms across his chest, "You have not told me your name, yet."  
  
"I'm still debating if I should or not." She wiped the grease from her face with the sleeve of her sweater, streaking dirt across her face, "I don't believe you brought me here and fed me out of the kindness of your heart. Everyone uses everyone. No one tells the whole truth."  
  
"Like I said; I don't know why I saved you." He said, "It was almost as if.I had no choice."  
  
"Hmmm." She bit into a roll, eating fast as if she feared the food would be taken from her like some cruel joke, "You saved me.? Oh, right. The roof."  
  
"You were trying to kill yourself."  
  
She nodded, not denying it. "Why?" He asked, confused and watching her, "You have a phenomenal strength and power. I've seen you fight. Why would you wish to."  
  
"To off myself?" She shrugged, looked at him through the curtain of her ragged, unwashed dark hair, "It just seemed the thing to do."  
  
"You are the most.odd.girl I have ever came across!" He said between clenched teeth, "You should be thankful I was there to save you!"  
  
"So what!" She cried, throwing the basket against the wall, where it broke in half, she spun around to face him, her eyes blazing, "Did it ever occur to you that I did not want or need saving?"  
  
"No." He said, "It did not. I."  
  
"Yeah, I know." She said, sighing, "You had no choice."  
  
He nodded and she began gathering her backpack up and stuffing the stakes which had fallen out when Piccolo'd dropped it in the corner upon arriving with the girl passed out in his arms a few hours before. She sighed and sat down on the bed, after counting the contents of her backpack to be certain everything was still there. She had precious little to her name, but what she had was her's and if she wasn't going to die she'd rather keep her stuff.  
  
"Giselle." She said quietly, almost under her breath. She looked up at him. "You asked my name. It's Giselle."  
  
"You kill monsters." He said, recalling watching her do just that.  
  
"I am the slayer." She nodded, confirming his words, "It's sorta my.job."  
  
"Don't you have to be alive to do it?"  
  
She shrugged again. "If I die, then a new slayer will be born to take over. It's no big deal. Slayers die all the time...it's a hazard of the job and title."  
  
"But not sucide surely!"  
  
"No.mostly they're done in by the very monsters.vampires.demons.they're trying to destroy." She said, "A careless moment and bang! Endsville."  
  
"But what you do is important, Giselle." He said, "Maybe you don't know exactly how important."  
  
"Spare me." She rolled her eyes, folding her arms under her breasts, "I've heard the 'This is your Destiny blah blah' routine ever since I found out what I was.my last Watcher never failed to remind me every fucking chance he got!"  
  
"Watcher?" Piccolo asked, not understanding her, what the hell was she babbling about?  
  
"Yeah." She said, "They're sorta like...trainers. Each slayer is assigned a Watcher to train her and help her understand her powers and duty and well.watch."  
  
He nodded, that made a great deal of sense to him. He wondered where her Watcher was and why she'd mentioned he was her 'last' Watcher. How many had she had and what had happened to them? He voiced his query and she shrugged again. He was coming to expect that gesture from her.  
  
"My first was killed." She said, "I was untrained and stupid. The vamp caught me off-guard. He was going for me but.my Watcher jumped in the way...trying to protect me, I guess." She shuddered and went on; "I've had three since, and they've all died.because of me.I don't do Watchers anymore.I won't be held responsible for any more deaths. Well, other than vamps and demons, of course, but they don't count."  
  
"I think I know why I was meant to save you, Giselle." He said, just realizing this himself. The more he thought of it, the more sense it seemed to make. He was almost certain of it! "Your fighting skills are impressive, but I can tell your training was never completed."  
  
"They all died before I could."  
  
"Yes, I can help you finish your training." He said, "I can instruct you in how to hone your fighting skill and strength to it's highest degree."  
  
"You?" She asked, chewing on her lip and thinking, "My Watcher?"  
  
"It seems so." He said, "There is a reason for everything, Giselle."  
  
"But...I.don't do Watchers." She said, "They have a bad habit of biting the big one around me."  
  
"That won't happen again." Piccolo said sternly, "Trust me."  
  
She appeared to think for a few moments, as if weighing his words in her mind. She did need instruction.and.  
  
"You'll have a warm place to sleep and food anytime you wish." He said, knowing that would be a better lure in which to tempt her with.  
  
"Fine." She said at last, "Whatever." "We'll begin by you showing me some respect." He said, glaring down at her, "No more of your insolence, Giselle."  
  
Her eyes widened, but she kept quiet. Maybe he was right. Maybe things did happen for a reason. Maybe this one wouldn't leave her.  
  
Maybe. 


	4. Training

"Again!" He stood by, watching her as she went through the moves, her normal grace failing in the face of her tiredness. Regular food, rest, cleaning and clothing had put some flush back to cheeks that were filling out and a body that was doing the same. She looked much better, Piccolo mused, than she did upon the first time he'd seen her.  
  
"I..am tired, Sensei!" She cried, panting, "Can't I stop and rest for a bit?"  
  
"Would a vampire or demon allow you to rest?" He countered, "No, he would kill you in an instant! Again!"  
  
Growling under her breath, Giselle continued. Though her limbs felt like lead and her throat echoed the fire in her chest. For weeks it had been like this, training, training and more training. When she wasn't practicing the fighting moves and routines or sparring with her new 'Watcher' she was out every night walking the graveyards, the darkened streets, ever mindful of her 'duty' as the slayer.  
  
She had not failed to see, as of late, that her kills were becoming.not easier.she did not what.just.different. She felt strength inside as she had never felt before and it seemed to that what she was doing was more than just her sacred calling. She was coming to enjoy.even look forward to it! She felt good every time she buried her stake deep in some bloodsucker's dead-stiff chest and watched it poof into dust and nothingness. Good because she thought of all the people she was saving. She had never felt that way before about it.  
  
It had all just seemed like eating or sleeping to her. Just something she 'did'. She did not stop to wonder about why or the way she should feel about it afterwards. It seemed, Giselle thought, as if I've been living my life in a half-awaked dream-state and am only now, with Piccolo's help, fully awake.  
  
Piccolo watched his young student with something akin to pride lingering at the corners of his mind. He scowled at her and did not not show her his true emotions, but when at last he told her to cease for the day, to get some sleep until she had to go out and be the slayer once more, his nod of approval was good enough for her. She sighed, smiled and slipped silently into the small house he'd brought them to several days before.  
  
Giselle Elise Walker, as her birth certificate had printed upon it, where ever it was she could not say, collasped on the single bed and did not bother to pull the blankets up around her body. She always felt completed exhausted after a bout of training with Piccolo, but it was a good exhaustion. It wasn't like the tiredness which came of weeping all day because she could not find food, again, after seeking for several days. Or the weakness that came of spending yet another wearisome night in cold, biting rain with no shelter in sight.  
  
Giselle slept for awhile. When she woke, she was no longer tired, but she was famished! She walked to the small refidgerator and peered inside. She grabbed up stuff to make a sandwish, eating it slower than she would have, weeks ago, had such food been presented her. She no longer had to fear it disapearing or being snatched away from her hungry mouth. After she ate, she took a shower and enjoyed the warmth of the water on her skin, the heat soothing aching muscles and driving away the chill of the coming winter in the air.  
  
She did not wear her Watcher had found this place, but she had learned not to question too much. She was just happy to be someplace other than on the streets. For once. It hadn't always been that way, she knew, but she quelled the stray thought before it could take root. Giselle would not think about that tonight. No, she shook out her dark locks, braiding them back into a thick plait down her back as she stood before the bathroom mirror in her towel, she would not think about her past and the people she'd left long ago.  
  
She raised a hand and smoothed the mist from the mirror, gazing through eyes that did not, now, seem so hollow at her reflection. The brown eyes that looked back were more a deep red than regular brown, with flecks of green here and there. She was not an ugly girl. By no means. She had a pretty face, if a bit childlike and pale, but the gauntness was leaving her cheeks and the roundness gave her a certain.perky.look.  
  
Her mouth was small, thin and almost always in a surly half-grin, at least, it had been, now though, it was merely smiling softly and the expression was not lost on her. She'd never really taken note of her appearance before. She'd always hidden herself under stringy, dirty hair and half- smiled that held the bit of sarcasm at it's root. She had hid behind these things because to look to pretty was to attract unwanted attention.especially on the street. But, now, here, with Piccolo, she felt safe enough that she did not need to hide herself.  
  
She glanced out the small window in the bathroom, seeing how dark the sky had become. During the cold months the sky always darkened earlier. She did not know if she liked or hated the autumn and winter months more than the spring and summer ones. Sure, the vamps were less in the colder times, their prey mostly all bundled up indoors than in the summer and spring when warm tempature would lure them out of doors to walk around, unprotected, at night. But, the early darkness meant early scouting on her part which meant less sleep and she thought she could do with a bit more of that.  
  
Besides, if there weren't the bloodsuckers to deal with there sure as hell would be the demons. The cold did not bother them. The prowled around wiether or not they found a human to slaughter. If they came upon on, sure, they would not hesitate to kill him, but they did not depend upon the kill such as vamps did. Giselle knew her duty with either monster, however.  
  
"Ready?" She was standing near the bed, inspecting the wooden stakes and other means of combat a slayer always had with her, no matter what. It seemed to her, that she'd had these stakes.or ones like them.ever since she could recall. She could not recall a time when she wasn't the slayer. It would have been pointless, she thought, to try. She was what she was and there was no changing it. She looked up at Piccolo and nodded, stuffing the last of her weapons into the backpack.  
  
She slung it over her shoulder and stepped past him outside. The cold air slammed into her, making her gasp and pull her jacket, the one Piccolo'd given her to wear, tigher about her shoulders. She did not say anything and knew that he was with her as she made her way towards the forest that would lead into town after a few miles. Knowing them as she did, Giselle anticipated a few vamps on the way through the thick wood and dispatched them with an almost mindless ease. She brushed the disgusting ash off her jeans and sweater and continued on.  
  
"Giselle!"  
  
She heard something behind her. Swiftly, without much thought, she spun and drew the blade from her boot-sheath. She gasped as someone slammed into her from the side and knocked her down. Piccolo's called her name in warning, but she could not answer, she rolled away and whoever.whatever.it was was on her again! She could not move! She was pinned and helpless as a butterfly upon a dart board! She had never felt strength like this! She glared up at eyes that were dark.but they weren't dead. This was no demon or bloodsucker then.  
  
"Let me up!" She growled, struggling, at last she managed a clumsy punch and roll and got herself out from under her attacker. She leaped to her feet and crouched down, wary, waiting, "Who are you?" She asked, her voice sounded odd even to her own ears, "Why did you attack me?"  
  
"Attack you?!" The stranger laughed, showing her with a flick of his hand the two bodies laying nearby, "You were too lost in your daydreams to sense them. I did not attack you, girl. I saved you."  
  
She looked, shook her head and the hand holding her blade trembled. If that was so.then.No! She was the slayer! She was not.careless! She sighed and resheathed her weapon. She turned to the stranger; "I don't know where you came from, but thanks. I.I need to keep my attention on the moment and not on thoughts of.well.I just need to pay better attention, I guess!"  
  
"That's for sure!" The stranger said, and his tone made her pause for a moment, she did not care for it's mocking arrogance, she did not want to admit to herself that it reminded her of herself in a way, "If I had not been seeking Piccolo and came upon you, you probably would have been dead now!"  
  
"You were seeking my Watcher?" She asked, "Why? Do you know each other?"  
  
"Not altogether as a friend, Giselle," Piccolo appeared in front of them, instantly from thin air in that way that aways unnerved her, "But, I've known Vegeta for quite some time, yes."  
  
"What's this 'Watcher' business?" The one called Vegeta asked, confused, then without waiting for an answer he said to Piccolo, "You have to come back with me, now! Something's happened!"  
  
"What?"  
  
"Just come on!" Vegeta said, leaping into the air, "We have to hurry!"  
  
"But I can't leave!" Piccolo said, gesturing towards the girl who still looked from one to the other in puzzled amusment, "Giselle."  
  
"Nevermind!" Vegeta cried, "There is no time! Bring her! Just hurry!"  
  
"What's going on, Sensei?" Giselle asked as Piccolo scooped one arm around her waist and, with arms about his neck, lifted her into the sky after Vegeta. He shook his head, uncertain himself, "I don't know, Little one. But I can feel something.bad."  
  
Giselle did not say anything but all ready knew that life as she had known it was about to change in a more dramatic way than she had ever dreamed possible. 


	5. Snatched!

"Get away from me!" She screamed, but no one listened, they never did, in situations like this. They merely laughed and threw her into the room. It was dark and stank of urine and.other things. She stumbled and landed on a mattress in the middle of the floor, wincing from the odor as it nearly knocked her out. She ran her fingers through her messy blue hair and screamed; "Let me out of here! God! You assholes!"  
  
She had no idea where she was or why she'd been taken. All she could remember was walking home from the store one day, a huge bag of gorcheries obsuring her vision because she'd promised to make Goku and Goten her famous three cheese cassorole that night. She'd been thinking of later, after dinner, when it was just her and Vegeta. Such thoughts had a tendency to make her cheeks flushed and feel weak in the knees.  
  
She hadn't even heard him until it was too late. The rag they'd shoved over her mouth and nose had been soaked in something powerful and she was out like a light before she hit the ground, food flying from her bag and rolling everywhere. Not that her attackers cared, as far she knew they just left the stuff where it landed and grabbed her. Why? She had no clue.  
  
She ran to the door and started to pound on it with both fists, screaming at the same time. After a while she realized that all she was doing was losing her voice and giving herself bruises. She slide down against the door and folded her arms about her drawn-up knees, pouting. You guys better not be around when my husband finds out about this! She warned them in her mind, smiling evilly.  
  
Then she screamed again, purely out of frustration. It wasn't fair! Why did things like this have to happen to her?! Was it because I'm pretty? She asked herself, fearing the answer. Probably! Pretty girls always get into some kind of trouble, don't they? At least I've never heard of an ugly girl as a damsel in distress! Ugh! It smells so aweful in here and I am kinda hungry. I wonder if they're gonna let me starve.  
  
No sooner had she said that than the door was shoved open and she had to scramble out of the way. It was dark in the hall outside the door so she could not get a good look at who was there, but he set a tray down and slid it into the room, closing and locking the door soon after. Bulma sniffed and walked to the try. She lifted the dome-shaped metal cover off the plate and sighed. Well, she thought, examining the meager fare, at least they don't plan to starve me.  
  
She ate the peanut butter and jelly sandwiches and chips without much enthusiasm and drank the glass of milk as well. Afterwards, she shoved the tray in front of the door and banged on it with a fist, yelling at the same time; "Hey! Who ever you are! I'm done! I have to pee! Come on! Someone! I really gotta go bad!"  
  
She didn't really, but they didn't need to know that. She thought she'd better figure out a plan to get the hell out of there and scoping out the place seemed the right first move. She waited for a moment then began yelling again, finally, the door was opened and a very large black man stood there glowering down at her. Pretending to be braver than she felt, she folded her arms and glared back.  
  
"I have to go to the bathroom!" She said angrily, she was angry, but not for that reason, "Can you show me where one is before I burst!?" She hopped around on one foot then on the other to look like she really had to go. He nodded and looked away for a moment, seeming to gesture to someone else outside of her vision. In a second or two a young woman with striking red hair walked in, smiled kindly at Bulma and then began to tie a blindfold over her eyes!  
  
Shit! Bulma cursed inwardly, how was she gonna scope out anything when she couldn't even see!? The woman placed her hand on Bulma's elbow and gently guided her out of the room. She felt something hard and pointed digging into her back and did not have to be a rocket scientist to figure out what it was. She walked without trying anything to the bathroom. The woman shoved her in and she heard the door click shut as she locked it behind her. Reaching up, Bulma took the blindfold off and stood there for a few moments staring down at the blue clothe in her hands that sort of matched the color of her hair.  
  
What was she going to do?  
  
She hoped her husband would hurry and realize she was missing!  
  
They were nearly there, but Vegeta had slowed to speak with Piccolo. Giselle did not speak but held onto the large Namek and listened as best she could and tried not to start thinking she just dreaming again and was really still curled up on some roof somewhere half-frozen and starving.  
  
"Can't you sense her, Vegeta?" Piccolo asked, and opened his own senses, reaching, finally, "I can't sense her! What happened? Where is she?"  
  
"I don't know!" Vegeta cried, "It's impossible! I know! I should be able to feel her no matter where she is! But I can't!"  
  
"Don't worry," Piccolo said, sounding more sure than he felt, "We'll find her, Vegeta, we'll find her."  
  
Back in her cell, Bulma was given a blanket and pillow and she curled up on the floor far from the stinking mattress and tried to rest. If she was gonna be hear long she needed her strength and she wasn't about to give up and let her kidnappers have that sort of satifaction!  
  
No way!  
  
She fell restlessly into a blackness that held no dreams of any kind for her. Besides, she thought just before drifting off, time goes by faster when we're sleeping so it won't seem so long. 


	6. Is This Love?

Giselle sat at the table, sipping a mug of hot chocolate that the woman, Chi Chi, had fixed for her. She had been there, with Piccolo and Vegeta, for about three days. She had never been for so long without her vamp- slash-monster hunting-slash-killing every night. She was anxious and felt out of place, needing to do something but not knowing what. Even the long hours training with Piccolo did not ease her feelings of restlessness.  
  
She sighed and ran her long fingers through her hair, pulling it up and away from her face for a moment, looking as uneasy as she felt. Someone tapped her on the shoulder and gasped, having been taking by surprise. She turned to see a boy, nearly a man, standing there, hands on his hips, looking at her in the kind of way a person does when inspecting some weird zoo exibit.  
  
"What?" She asked, turning the whole way about in her chair, "What's your deal, kid?"  
  
"Don't call me kid!" He said, shoving his dark hair, which she noticed stuck up in strange angles that looked kinda.cute. "I heard your training with Piccolo."  
  
She bit back a sarcastic remark, which would have been like second nature to her before.before all this.another way to defend herself. Instead she nodded; "He's my watcher."  
  
"Your what?" He asked, confused, but before she could explain, he said; "Let's spar! I wanna see how strong you really are.or think you are!"  
  
At last! Something she was familiar with! She grinned and jumped up, "You on! And I hope you know the number of a good doctor!"  
  
"You've obviously never fought anyone with saiyan blood." He said after her, "I'll try to go easy on you!"  
  
Piccolo watched from a short distance. He raised one of his eye-ridges slightly when he'd first seen Giselle and Goten start up, but after awhile he realized that it was logical they would find this to do. He was proud of his charge, she was holding up quite well in the fight. After a bit though, Goten got the upper hand and Giselle had to admit defeat.  
  
It had been a very close fight though. He knew, had Giselle been just a normal human girl, that would not have been the case. But Goten, who had bragged about taking it easy on her, had had to struggle to win. He had seen it in the boy's sweat-drenched face and breif look of panic when he wasn't sure he'd actually win.and the threat that he was about to be beaten, by a girl, hung in the air between them.  
  
Sweat dripping into her eyes and her dark hair frizzed from the heat, this place they had come to was much warmer than where she'd lived all her life.much, Giselle smiled up at Goten and shoved her hair out of her face. He took her hand and pulled her up, grinning broadly.  
  
"That was fun!" He said, as if paying her compliment, "Your not bad."  
  
"Same to you, kid." She winked, "Wanna get something to eat?"  
  
"You can read minds, too?!" He gasped, falling backwards in mock surprise and laughed, she slugged him on the arm and shook her head.  
  
"How 'bout a pizza?" Goten asked as they entered the house, upon which Chi Chi, his mother, screamed; "You're getting my nice clean floor all dirty! Go get cleaned up! Both of you! This instant!"  
  
"Sure, Mom, sorry!" Goten said, running up the stairs. Giselle just stood there, uncertain where she could.  
  
"The other bathroom's down the hall, dear." Chi Chi said, coming to her rescue, thank god!  
  
Giselle closed and locked the bathroom door. She stripped off her top and pants, that were, true be told, not much but rag now, after her little spar with Goten. Wow, that kid was strong! She'd told herself that she'd be ready for the next surprise that came her way. As she tested the water and found the right tempature, she realized that her quota for shocks was not even close to being full!  
  
As the water from the showerhead tattooed across her back soothingly, Giselle's mind drifted. She went over the fight with Goten, looking for anything she might have done she needed to work on, as she did with every fight, be it during training or for her life while out doing her slaying business.  
  
This time, as she turned around and allowed the water to play on the sensitive areas of her breasts and hardened nipples, to course waterways of warth and relaxation down the hollow of her stomach and over her womanly mound, her thoughts conjured up Goten's smiling, proud face and big brown eyes instead and her heart fluttered with an unfamiliar feeling beneath her breath.  
  
He was cute, she found herself thinking before she could stop it. Suddenly, she reached out and yanked the water over to cold, gasping as the chill slapped her mind back to the present. "Get your mind back on what's important, girl!" She chided herself, "There's baddies out there and it's your job to get rid of them! Don't forget that, Giselle!"  
  
Interrupting her thoughts, there came a sudden knock at the door; "Hey, Giselle! Pizza's here!" It was Goten. She cursed herself as her mind brought back the same thoughts she'd been trying to dismiss. She called out that she'd be out in a minute and he left her.  
  
"What's the matter with you, girl?!" She said harshly, under her breath to herself, "You've never cared about boys before.why now?" She'd never had the time for them, she thought, answering her own question and when she did, on occation, run across one, he would just look at her like she was so much trash and walk away. She'd found it easier to hid her face behind dirt and sarcastic ways than been looked at and dismissed with disgust.  
  
She looked in the mirror and combed the tangles from her wavy dark hair, trying to focus her thoughts on what was important.what was now.not on the way her heart was still pounding in her chest, or the way her hand holding the brush felt suddenly clammy or the odd sensation in her stomach that she'd never felt when dealing with any baddies.  
  
If she'd had a girlfriend she could have confided in right then, Giselle could not have been sure she would not have spilled her guts and then asked her, What was going on? What was she feeling? But she had no one, no one, at least, who she could go to and speak with about.these things. She sighed again and finished with her hair.  
  
There was another knock and Giselle held her breath for a moment, Chi Chi's voice rang out; "I have something for you to wear, dear." She said, and Giselle unlocked the door, standing wrapped in the white terrycloth towel, she took the garments from the woman and smiled, "I'm sorry about your floor, Chi Chi."  
  
"Oh, it's all right." Chi Chi smiled, "It's not your fault...you didn't know any better. Hurry up, though, your food'll be gone by the time you get to it!"  
  
Giselle nodded and closed the door to get dressed. She looked down at the clothes in her hands and shrugged. Purple wasn't really her, but at least they were clean and smelled nice.and lacked holes! Which was more than could be said for the pitiful pile of scraps in the corner of the bathroom. She put them on and walked out to the kitchen.  
  
Goten was eating, and it seemed like nothing would steer him from his mission, but he looked up as Giselle walked in and his eyes widened noticably; "Hey!" He greeted, his eyes moving brazenly down and then back up her body; "You clean up nice!"  
  
She flushed and shoved herself down into a chair, grabbing a slice of the pepperoni pizza and biting into it to hide her embarracement at the bold compliment. She wasn't use to that kind of treatment and had no idea how to handle it. A foaming, blood-maddened demon from the seventh gate of hell? Sure, no problem, walk in the park and a big freaking piece of cake! But, compliments and attention from the opposite sex? She was at a complete loss!  
  
Thank god for pizza! 


	7. Bulma's Dilemma

She rolled over and squeezed her eyes shut tighter. Her back ached from sleeping on the hard cement floor and her face felt gritty from the tears that had fallen in her sleep. She heard the door open and then click locked once more. She thought perhaps that they had brought more food. She wasn't hungry.  
  
"Excuse me?"  
  
She heard the voice, a soft feminine voice with a slight southern twang, from the direction of the door and moaned in frustration. She did not wish to woken. She did not wish to thrust back into this waking nightmare. But the voice had a body who also had hands that knew how to reach out and shake her rudely awake. Bulma sat up, shoving her away and glared out of her large brilliant blue eyes. She took in the sight of the other woman. A rather thin thing with long, curly red hair and bright green eyes. She was staring down at Bulma with an expression of fear and wonder playing across her doll-like features.  
  
"I...I'm sorry." She stumbled, clasping her hands in front her as if she didn't know quite what to do with them, she glanced towards the door nervously, "I just came to tell you, you need to be ready when they come for you.your turn is coming up soon."  
  
"My turn?" Bulma asked, confused, not for the first time since she'd been taken, "What do you mean, my turn?"  
  
"You don't know?" The girl asked, and now that she could get a better look at her, Bulma realized she was no more than a teenager, or perhaps a bit younger, she looked scared and.something else she couldn't place. Bulma shook her head.  
  
"Know what?" She asked, "I don't know anything! Why I was kidnapped, why I was brought here! Anything!"  
  
"Shh!" She cautioned, placing a finger against her lips, "They don't know I'm in here. I.I get special privliges because I.I'm a favorite.I can move about the complex on my own if I wish."  
  
"So, why don't just escape!?" Bulma cried, wanting to slap the stupid child, "What's wrong with you?!"  
  
"Shh! Please! I don't want to get caught! You don't know what they'll do to me if." She paused, "I can't just escape, as you put it, I don't have a key to any of the doors that lead outside and no one can get one unless they pass security check.I'm a breeder so I don't pass."  
  
"Wait a minute!" Bulma cried, stopping the girl, "What did you say?"  
  
"I don't pass sec."  
  
"No.the other thing.a breeder?" Bulma felt suddenly sick, "What does that mean?"  
  
"You really haven't heard have you?" She asked, eyes wide, "There's this scientist, see.I don't know his name.I don't any one of us does.and he is working on making a supior race of people. At least, that is what they told me, when they took me. Every one of the breeders, women like me.and you.are each choisen for some special trait they have."  
  
Bulma's stomach turned and she had to swallow to keep from dry heaving. Oh, God! If what this girl was saying.she was to be.raped. "No!" She cried, pounding her fists on the cement floor, "I won't submit to this.this.insanity! Surely the other women here will fight! Surely."  
  
The girl was all ready shaking her crimson locks, looking sad; "No, they won't. They've been here too long.they.they've just.given up.a long time ago."  
  
"Just how long has this been going on?"  
  
"I have three children now." She said, "I was taken when I was thirteen."  
  
"Oh my god!" Bulma gasped, having trouble imaging a thirteen year old girl in such a situation, "You poor girl! You were just a baby yourself! The animals!"  
  
"It's no good to resist." She shook off the older woman's sympathy, "They have ways.of making you.do what they want.even if you fight."  
  
"Why hasn't the police been informed of this place?!" Bulma asked, "Surely, if it's been around as long as you say, someone sometime had to have leaked info."  
  
"Money can close many mouths." She said, sighing, "The scientist is rich beyond belief and has the cash flow to keep this place going and his or her many lackies silent."  
  
"Well, I'm not about to submit!" Bulma cried, narrowing her eyes, "And I'll tell you something, Kiddo, when my husband finds out about this." She let the threat hang unfinished in the air between them, but she saw the hope flicker in the younger woman's eyes for a moment before they became dark and hollow once more. She reached out to touch her hand, "Don't worry. We'll get out here. I promise."  
  
"I don't know."  
  
"I do!" Bulma squeezed her hand beneath her own, "What's your name?"  
  
"Cerise." She said, touching her hair, "I was named for my hair."  
  
"Yes, Cerise means 'Red'." Bulma said, "Listen, Cerise, We are getting out of here. Trust me."  
  
Cerise nodded, but her eyes held no belief. 


	8. A Sidekick?

Vegeta could not understand it. But just because he couldn't understand it did not mean he was about to give up! He stood still in mid-air, reaching out all around him with all his senses.feeling.searching.for something.some sign of her. Dammit! He'd always been able to feel her, no matter where she was!  
  
"Bulma!" He screamed and felt the loss to his bones, where was she?! He flew off, continuing a search that he had been on for the last week and half. The others helped as they could and the local police department, bumbling as they were, tried. Even Kakkarot, in his moronicness was putting forth all his effort to find his wife and Vegeta was secretly grateful even if he'd never show it.  
  
Piccolo had watched Vegeta take off for the hundreth time that day and growled deep in his throat. He too had tried to sense Bulma, but nothing. He could find no reasonable explaination for it either and that bothered him almost as much as Bulma being kidnapped did. Giselle had informed him in no uncertain terms the other day that she needed to be out killing 'baddies' as she put it and had been leaving each evening at dusk to wander the favorite haunts of the undead and other monsters to do what she did best, always coming back smelling like the dead and graveyard dirt.  
  
Giselle was getting ready for graveyard duty when Goten came up behind her and stood watching her for a moment. Until that moment, She'd never actually told him what she did. She'd mentioned something about Piccolo and this 'watcher' business but he'd not understood and she hadn't felt the need to explain further. Now, as she inspected the sharp wooden stakes and a cross-tipped dagger that looked like a relic, he wasn't sure about her.  
  
"Giselle?" He asked, and she did not turn about, although she did stiffen and wait, "What are you doing? What's all this.stuff for?"  
  
"Oh." She said, her voice soft, she was looking at one the wooden stakes, she turned about, "Didn't you know? I'm a vampire slayer. In fact, I am THE Slayer."  
  
"Really?" He said, one eyebrow raised curiously, "The way you said that, like it's important but you'd rather not have the title. Why?"  
  
She sighed heavily and sank down on the side of the small bed Chi Chi and Goku had been kind enough to allow to have during her stay with them. "I can't explain it, Goten." She said, looking up at him through the curtian of dark hair, it had reddish highlghts he noticed as it seemed to glow in the lamplight, "Please don't ask me to. All I can say is.Spiderman was right!"  
  
"What's that suppose to." Then he was silent as she went on with her work, suddenly he brighten and exclaimed; "I have a great idea, Giselle! I'll come with you tonight!"  
  
She jumped up, "No! Absolutely not, Goten!" She cried, she did not need to be responsible for another person, taking care of herself was more than enough! "I can barely keep tabs on myself, I am so not going to be babysitting you too!"  
  
"If you haven't noticed before, Oh Great Slayer of Icky Dead Things," He said, crossing his arms over his chest and looking at her out of the corner of his eye in much the same manner as his father, "I am not your average human 'kid' here. I can take care of myself."  
  
Giselle knew that. She knew Goten could take care of himself, she knew it only too well. That was not the reason she was so against him going with her tonight. No, the way her heart was reacting and her mind and hands all wanted to do things that she'd never thought of doing before she knew she would be so off her game tonight it wouldn't be funny! She needed to keep all her focus on her slaying and she couldn't do that if he was along. It was that simple. Until she found a way to deal with this, she was best just keeping away from him.  
  
"Goten." She said, hating herself for being so harsh, but it was for the best.people's lives depended on her after all! "Get away from me. I don't want to see you right now.maybe.maybe ever."  
  
She felt like such a heel as the look of surprised hurt passed over his too- honest features and she had to restrain herself from crying out an apology and taking him into her arms and soothing away that look with kisses. Stop it! She told herself. The kid needs to toughen. There's more to strength than the physical. If he doesn't learn to guard his feelings better he will go through like being hurt and disapointed at every turn. I just did him a favor.  
  
So why did she feel like such a little bitch?  
  
She shoved past him, her bag slung over one shoulder, trying not to touch him lest she lose what little hold on herself she had. She did not see him glare after her as she made her way to the front of the house and let the front door slam shut behind her. Chi Chi glanced up from the phone where she was speaking to yet another detective about Bulma and frowned.  
  
She mouthed to her son with one hand covering the phone; "You okay?"  
  
He nodded, not saying anything and went outside, taking to the sky, going in the opposite direction of Giselle. Chi Chi's eyebrows knitted together on her brow as she watched her son through the window and wondered at his sudden, uncustomary anger. She was soon distracted by the man on the phone, however and the fact that her friend was still very missing and that needed to be kept as the topmost priority!  
  
Goten, as worried about Bulma as everyone else, but knowing that worrying overlong over something did no good, he was concentrating on the problem more close to home and one he could, at least, deal with.or try to at the very least. He'd turned in the air and continued on, following, yet out of sight, Giselle.  
  
She was walking towards the old graveyard that all the kids at his high school claimed was haunted. Not that he was scared of dead things, but he felt a shiver non-the-less as he dropped down lightly to the ground and followed behind Giselle, still keeping out of her sight. He gasped as he saw a hand push it's way from the dirt, all gross and decomposing, skin hanging off in huge clumps. He nearly lost his dinner as it was followed by a bony arm and them a head, more gruesome than anything he'd ever seen.maggots falling out of one eyeless socket, bone showing through flaking skin.  
  
He was about to yell out a warning to Giselle, who had her back to the creature, when another rose up, much faster than his counterpart to her left and yet another came stumbling in from the other direction, followed by a fourth and fifth! Goten couldn't believe how many of these disgusting, falling-apart.things.there were!  
  
"God!" Giselle cried, disgusted, as she spun about and landed a hard kick to the first vamp, knocking it's head off it's shoulders, letting lose fly her first stake to take out the one at her side, "I just knew it was gonna be one of those nights.ah.well." She said while taking out the others, almost without breaking a sweat, "It's.a..work.out!"  
  
Goten smiled, relieved that she was okay! Not that she had any reason not to be. The girl was fantastic! She was close to the fastest thing he'd ever seen. She paused, gathering up her fallen stakes and dusting the ash of the dead from her clothes, and stood still for a moment. Finally, she narrowed her eyes and called; "Goten! I know your there! You can come out now."  
  
What? He asked himself, trying to fade into the surrounding shadows, how had she.? She waited, growing more angry by the second. How dare he follow her here after she'd told him to stay away! How dare he just ignore her like that!? She resisted the urge to tap her foot and start mumbling about the untrustworthiness of some people. "I am not waiting forever, Goten."  
  
He came foreward and she just shook her head at him; "I can't believe you."  
  
"What?" He asked, defensively, "I was curious.I've never seen as.Slayer.in action before."  
  
"Do you realize what could have happened if I'd been distracted?!" She cried, "Do you?! People depend on me, you know! This isn't just some 'cool' game that I go out and just 'do' every now and then, Goten!"  
  
"I know, Giselle.I'm sorry!" He said, "I never meant for you to be mad at me.I just.aaaww.just forget it!"  
  
She watched as he turned away, ready to take off once more into the dark night sky. She could not stop herself this time. She reached out and grabbed his arm, stopping him. "Goten.please. Don't.just don't." She said, not knowing how to say what she wanted to say.what she needed to say, "I'm sorry, okay. I never should have said what I said earlier.I didn't even mean it."  
  
She couldn't see his eyes light up at her words, but when he turned around there was a different kind of glow to his eyes, a type of fire that seemed to burn her without hurting her.and she gasped and stepped backwards. But not before he caught her from stumbling and held her against him, breathing softly, waiting.  
  
"There's something between us, Giselle." He said, at last, not looking away from her eyes, he felt drawn to them as if he could dive into them and drown, "I know you feel it."  
  
She shook her head, still trying to deny what her whole body was knew was true; "No.There is.there is..nothing."  
  
"There is!" He said, feeling her heart pound against his own, with his own; "You can't keep ignoring or trying to deny it, Giselle! It's there! I feel it and I know you do too!"  
  
She started to protest again but he was done argueing with her. He leaned down and captured her mouth with his own, invading her with his tongue and causing her to gulp air against his lips and then, after a slight hesitation, she began to return his kiss.a bit curious and more than a little experimental, she ran her tongue across his teeth and shivered as she felt his hand roam over her head and grasp a handful of her dark hair, shoving her head closer to deepen the embrace.  
  
When at last they parted, Giselle felt stunned, weak and unable to thing straight. She'd never felt anything.so.she turned away from him, needing a moment to gather scattered pieces back together again. Goten waited for her and smirked in satisfaction. He'd been her first kiss. He could tell. Somehow, that thought made him feel very good.  
  
It seemed the sardonic little vampire slayer who had seemed so worldly wise had more to learn than than she knew and he planned teaching her much more than just what one mere kiss felt like. He had already decided that he would be her first in other things as well. He walked up behind her and wrapped his arms about her. He could already see a new bloodsucker meandering along in their general direction.  
  
"Up for a little vampire slaying?" He asked, taking one of her stakes from her, "Come one. With both of us on the job we'll get done faster. Just think of me as your sidekick."  
  
She stifled a giggle and they spent the rest of the night killing vamps as partners. 


	9. Shadows

She'd been able to hold them off so far by claiming illness and her period and whatever else she could come up with to make herself less.appealing. But, Bulma knew her time was running out. She knew it like she knew the sun and moon rose and set outside these walls even if she could not see them.  
  
The girl, Cerise, whom she'd fondly nicknamed 'Red', came to see her at least once a day and they would talk for hours.or at least until she grew fearful of discovery and slipped soundlessly back out Bulma's cell door. They kept her well-fed and showed her a shower where she could wash up and shampoo her hair in private, without being harassed. But, not wanting to call attention to herself, Bulma had showered as less as possible, hoping her stink would make them pass her by.  
  
Something the girl, Cerise, had said on one their talks struck a chord in her, Bulma recalls, and fed the fire of her slight hope which was more bravado for the girl's sake than anything else at the time. She leaned against the wall, her knees drawn up to her chest and her arms around them as she thought of the conversation held only a few days past..  
  
"You have asked me, Bulma, many times now," She said, her voice barely a whisper above the silence of the thick-walled room, "If there had ever been a girl who escaped."  
  
Hardly daring to breath, Bulma leaned closer and placed her hand over the girl's smaller, slightly trembling one; "Go on."  
  
"It...happened.a few years ago." She said, "One of the older women, Hannah, she had a daughter.the girl was.odd.there was something about her. Even I could feel it and she was near my own age, if a bit older."  
  
Bulma waited, not daring to hope yet.  
  
"One day.she just.just disapeared." Cerise said, "No one could explain it. No one knew how she did it. Hannah fell apart after that...They took her away one night and she never came back either."  
  
Bulma didn't hear the girl's last, shaky words, all she heard was that someone had gotten away and that meant that it wasn't impossible! If that girl had done it, than surely she could as well! If only she could figure a way! She needed to think! Dammit, Bulma, She yelled at herself, Where's that brilliant mind of your's anyway?  
  
Yet something nudged at the back of her mind.somethng about the girl Cerise was talking about. "Red, The girl.was she.she..?"  
  
Cerise shook her head. "None of the fertilizers could get near her. I don't know how she did it, but she kept them away from her and her frail mother for as long she was here.She was born here and I think they meant to use her.and her mother both.as more breeding stock."  
  
"But she showed them, didn't she?!" Bulma said, "Now I know we will get out of here, Red! If that girl could do it, than it's sure that we can!"  
  
Cerise nodded, Even if it was only a fantasy, the new woman's optimism and determination elevated her own discouraging spirit and made her lips do something they had not felt compelled to do in too long a time to count; smile.  
  
"You're getting better." He said, as she blocked his recent attack, she grinned and took on the advantage, backing him up with a series of kicks and punches that were almost too fast for the naked eye to see. "Much better!"  
  
Before she could reply, though, he counter-attacked as swiftly as she, catching her off-balance and nearly causing her to stumble and fall. She caught herself in time, though and reacted with gust, parrying his blows and returning the favor. After a bit, they stopped and she smiled through her sweat-soaked hair hanging over her eyes. "Thanks for the compliment, Sensei, but I know I have to do better than that! Much better!"  
  
Piccolo nodded, proud of her newfound determination and drive. She was ready in less time than ever and they began again.  
  
Goten watched them from a little ways away, admiring Giselle's form and.other things about her best left unsaid in mixed company. Then he saw Vegeta flying back and could see the scowl that darkened his face like a heavy stormcloud and his own smile faded. Poor Vegeta.he couldn't believe he was even thinking such a thing! But he did feel bad for the uppity Saiyan Prince, and he missed Bulma like crazy himself. She was almost like second mother to him.had been.ever since he could remember.  
  
His mother was constantly on the phone with someone or other, trying, in her fashion to locate her lost friend and the wear was beginning to tell around her eyes and the way she struck out in anger at any little thing, making Goten walk on eggshells around her. To make matters worse, ever since he'd kissed her, Giselle had been avoiding him. She seemed.he didn't know how to put it.haunted.by something and she wasn't about to stand still long enough to allow him to unravel what it was and perhaps help her.  
  
It was one of the things that irritated him about her. Her changing moods. She could be so open and honest in one moment, dark and withdrawn the next. He did not know, really, what to expect of her moment by moment. Every time he talked with her, or tried to at least, it felt like he was a blind man traveling a length of road he'd never been on before with unfamilair objects being tossed randomly in his path, it was a tiresome chore to find his way through and actually reach her.  
  
"Vegeta?" He heard Giselle call out, "Any luck?"  
  
She did seem honestly concerned for Bulma, someone she'd never laid eyes on before, Goten noticed, that worked in her favor, he thought. Piccolo and she had stopped in their training when Vegeta approached, wearing twin expressions of worry and expectation.  
  
"No." He said as he landed next to Piccolo, whose wide cape fluttered out in the breeze and made him look more regal than the one who stood beside him who actually boasted of royal blood, "I did hear something though.that may be a clue.I overheard some workers conversation about a.factory of sorts.far underground.with some sort of electronic barrier around it.for blocking mental attacks or whatever, one of the said."  
  
Giselle heard his words and the sweat dripping down her back grew cold with a sudden, unnamed dread. Her hands shook and she clasped them tightly together in front of her, willing them to be still. She wished she could command her heart to do the same, but it's willful jumping in her chest made her almost certain that it would fly right out of her breast and beat wildly upon the ground for all to see.  
  
Something about Vegeta's words.A sudden unvoiced sound, a word with only two syllables slipped into the forefront of her mind and sang like a caged bird against the bars of her memory.  
  
Hannah.  
  
Mother.  
  
No! She cried in her mind, her eyes a mirror to the horror she felt within. She had to tell them! She had to tell them now! The woman.Bulma.Vegeta's wife.was in danger.would still be in danger if she did not! Yet the words caught in her throat. The horror of that place was still to painful for her to recount.yet.yet.if she did not.  
  
Goten noticed Giselle's shaking hands and terror-filled dark eyes. He noticed and reached out to her. "Giselle...what is it? What's wrong?"  
  
She did not back away as she normally would have done. She knew she had to speak now. She knew she had to..but she couldn't! She couldn't!  
  
"Giselle?" She heard her Watcher speak and turned to look into his deep, serene black eyes, Piccolo spoke; "What is it? You can tell us. Giselle?" 


	10. Difficult Memories

"Giselle? Honey? Please talk to us?" Chi Chi brushed the hair from the girl's forehead, gazing into her eyes, there were so much pain in those eyes.and sighed, turning to her friends; "We can't get her to talk to us if she's in shock."  
  
"This is ridiculous!" Vegeta snarled, shoving Kakkorat's wife aside, he stared down at the frozen girl on the sofa and grabbed her by her shoulders, shaking her; "Snap out of, girl! This is my mate we are talking about! If you don't tell me what I want to know right now, so help me.I'll MAKE YOU tell me!"  
  
"I can't.I don't." Giselle threw up her hands to defend herself, trying to loose the Saiyan Prince's grip but he was just too strong, she cried out as tears streamed down her face; "Please.you're hurting me! I."  
  
"Vegeta!" Chi Chi cried, "Stop it! Your not doing any good by hurting her!"  
  
In a barely concealed rage, Vegeta snarled at her and turned back to Giselle; his voice low, suddenly pleading.the fear in his dark eyes flickered and held her own and she felt his desperation. He would kill to get his mate back.she felt certain of it. "Giselle.please."  
  
She winced as his nails dug into the skin of her shoulders. She nodded.shoving the pain and terror she felt every time she though of that.that PLACE.down deep where she could muffle it for a while with other things and began her story in a trembling voice.  
  
She was the Slayer, yes, that was true.  
  
She was extraordinarily strong, much more so than the average sixteen year old girl, but that did not mean she was as emotionally strong as her body was. She began her tale on the eve of her eleventh birthday. That was the day she found out just what, exactly, her mother was and where she came from.  
  
The play area was one of several circular rooms in the facity where the children of several successful breeders were brought to play amid others of their agemates. Secretly, with cameras positioned all around the room on the walls and ceilings, the children were observed, analysed, and metally picked apart as they played together, unaware of the ulterior motive for their playtime.  
  
Giselle was one of the children. She wasn't very outgoing and so the powers that be had deemed to leave her alone and focus on the enhanced.of the children. She spend most of her time in the play area on the swings. She loved the feeling of soaring and forgetting everything but the feel of the air, even if was the stale, dry of recycled air, in her hair and the rise and fall of the feeling in her stomach she pushed the swing as high as it would go.  
  
After playtime, all the children were herded together into the main dining area, to sit at long rectangular tables with hard benches beneath, eating fare that was healthy if not particualarly good. Giselle and her best friend, a girl called Amber who was a few years older than her, always sat together and rarely left each other's side.  
  
For awhile, Giselle thought as she told her story, she'd been a normal preteen girl and Amber.she hadn't thought of her in.it seemed like ages. She felt her heart contract for missing her wide-eyed flaxen haired girlfriend and sighed, continueing on.  
  
"Gather your plates and carry them to the kitchens." The voice over the intercom was neither male nor female. It could have been a robot for all Giselle knew, no one ever saw the people behind the speakers and only the mothers were ever around to guide their children where they needed to be and tucked them in at night and gave them the love and attention no one else would.  
  
At least, Giselle, recalled, until the day came when the children were considered old enough to be put to work. Either as workers in the kitchens, gardens, or other random labor.if you were born so fortunate enough to be male. Or, Giselle shivered, as an breeder if you were female. Unwilling or not.  
  
Giselle picked up her tray, the scatchy wool of her gray and white uniform itched and she wished, not for the first time, that she could have different clothes to wear. But, she like all the other girls there, were forced to wear the uncomfortable pleated skirts and sailor tops, looking, she knew, for all the world like one of those annoying little anime chicks she's seen on the cover of a manga that had somehow gotten inside the facility.  
  
Amber's mother appeared in the doorway, looking as ragged and worn as most of the other mothers there. Her eyes, steel gray in color, like Amber's, reflected no hope within them. Only when she was looking at her daughter did there come some flicker of life to her dull, often vacent orbs. She called Amber over and Giselle paused in her walk to kitchen.listening.  
  
"Amber, come along." Giselle looked and could tell, even from across the room with other children running around, talking, laughing and joking like kids did, that something was wrong. Amber's mother was often depressed, like most of the women, but there was something more in her voice, in her tone as she talked to her daughter; "Amber.come along now."  
  
"Mommy?" Amber asked, taking hold of her mother's hand, "What's happening, Mommy? Where are we going?"  
  
Giselle left her tray on the counter and followed, at a safe distance, keeping to the shadows and ducking beneath the cameras. She wanted to find out what was going on with her best friend and she knew she'd never know unless she threw caution to the wind.  
  
Amber's mother was crying. Giselle could hear her sharp intakes of breath and her hiccuping sobs even as Amber continued to plead with her mother to tell her what was happening, why she was crying so badly.  
  
"I'm so sorry, baby." She sobbed, leaning down to embrace her child, stroking her hair and crying; "I'm so sorry."  
  
"Mommy!" Amber shouted, shoving her mother away, terror in her eyes, "Please, your scaring me!"  
  
"What's the hold up?" Giselle gasped. A man's voice! Men weren't allowed in this part of the building! Even she knew that! What was this one doing here? "Come on, I haven't got all day and this one needs to be fertilized. Orders from the boss." He waved a piece of paper in the air in front of Amber and her mother's face, but there was an odd leering quality to his features that unnerved Giselle.  
  
As she concluded her story, the screams of her friend as she was dragged into a vacent room and forced to do god knows what, stilled played over and over in her mind as if it had happened only yesterday. The fertilization process had been succeful, or so they said. But, it did not matter. They'd found Amber dead a week later in one of the bathrooms. She'd stabbed herself throught the chest with a kitchen knife she'd stolen during her turn as washer one night.  
  
Amber's mother would not speak to anyone who questioned her about it. Giselle did not wonder why she'd never bothered to look for her daughter after she'd been missing for nearly twentyfour hours. She knew, after the woman had glanced breifly into her eyes, that she'd known exactly what Amber was going to do and felt in her heart of hearts that it was the only way her daughter would gain back the virtue stolen from her. Perhaps she believed that Amber had escaped to a better place, in death.  
  
"Oh, how horrible!" Chi Chi cried, dabbing at her eyes with the sleeve of her dress, after Giselle had finished talking, she also told them the whereabouts of the facility as best she could remember them, "Those poor women and children.Vegeta, Goten.We have to help them! We have to save Bulma, yes, but we can't just leave it at that.!"  
  
"I know Mom." Goten said, Vegeta was already at the door, letting it slam shut behind him. He'd waited long enough to get his mate back! "We're already on it.Piccolo, we'll need your help too."  
  
"Of course." Piccolo said, and turned to Giselle; "You did well, Slayer."  
  
She wiped her eyes and nodded; "Thank you, Sensei." Then she added, almost too low for anyone but him to hear, "For Amber.make them pay."  
  
Goten looked down at Giselle before he left, touching her cheek tenderly, he smoothed away the steak made by her tears and bent down to kiss her softly, briefly on the mouth, not caring what the other's might think. His whispered into her ear; "After this is all over, Giselle.I have something I want to say to you."  
  
She watched him leave with the others and Chi Chi looked at her aside, her lips curled upwards ever so slightly in a knowing smile. Giselle did not notice her as she stood up and made her way into her bedroom to lay down for awhile, feeling drained and wanting only to close her eyes for awhile and forget.everything. 


	11. Rescued, At Last!

They had brought her another tray of food. The girl, Cerise, Red, kept sneaking into her cell and keeping her company. Sometimes they would talk, sometimes just sit and stare into the darkness together, both feeling as if they were truly sisters. Sisters in terror, sisters in captivity. Bulma picked at the food on the tray, she missed her friends and family so much her heart ached with it.  
  
She wasn't like her friend here. She hadn't been born and raised here. She knew about the world outside and longed to return to it. She would return, Bulma thought, gripping the plastic fork so tight that it cut into her skin.  
  
"I hope you are enjoying your stay here, My dear." She heard the voice, lilting europian accent and soft tones, and looked the door. It stood wide open and a man with slightly frizzy silvery white hair and faint stubble shadowing his well-pronouced jaw, stood there, his legs braced apart and his arms akimbo. "I have to apologize for the accommodations. A woman of your.skills.should know only the best."  
  
Bulma just glared at him, poised ready to throw the tray of half-eaten food at him if he took one more step towards her. "Who are you?" She asked, "I just want to get out of this godforsaken place."  
  
"And so you shall, my dear." He said, bowing towards her, "Allow me to introduce myself.I am Leander Douglas The Third.I own." He spread his hands wide to indicate the surrounding facilities, "All this."  
  
"Whoohoo!" Bulma said, sarcasm dripping from her voice like the thin gray stuff that passed for chicken gravy slid from her fork back onto her plate, "You know you're going to die when my husband gets here."  
  
He laughed and came towards her, leaning down to stroke his black gloved hand across her cheek; "We've needed new breeders in here for quite some time." He murmered, gazing down at her with intense ice-blue eyes. Bulma winced from his touch and he took the tray of food from her, "Yes, your brains and beauty will make beautiful.products for the cause."  
  
"Over my dead body!" She cried, moving to gain her feet, "Touch me and you won't have to wait to face my husband. I'll kill you myself!"  
  
"And spirit too!" He said, laughing, his black clothing made him look like a shadow in the room, "You just never cease to surprise, do you, my dear?"  
  
He set the tray down and stepped up to her. Bulma had to look up as he was slightly taller than herself, and grasped her hands by the wrists when she lifted them to defend herself. His grip tightened and she struggled to supress any indictication that he was hurting her. She wouldn't give him the satification. She continued to glare up at him wishing she had all the dragonballs right there with her so she could summon the dragon and wish him into the blackest pits of hell for enternal pain and torment.  
  
"No need to look like that, my dear." He whispered, pulling her closer to his massive chest, "Being a breeder can be fun, you know, you just have to know.the right.techique."  
  
She tried to turn away but he let go of one of her hands and took ahold of her chin. Jerking her face back to his she cried out as he bruised her lips beneath his own painfully, cruelly. She shoved at him with her one remaining free hand and raised her leg to knee him where it would do the most damage as he tongue darted inbetween her teeth and wrestled with her own, making her want to gag.  
  
Suddenly, as she felt his hardness pressed against her and his hand left her face to cup her soft, rounded buttocks, she heard an enomous explosion that rocked the facility to it's foundations. Leander pulled away from her, annoyance written across his features as he looked towards the door. "What in..?"  
  
Before he could finish his query, a new figure appeared in the doorway. One Bulma had never been so glad to see. She tried to pull away from the madman who still held her tight in his grip but could not. He was too strong for her.  
  
"I suggest you let the woman go." Vegeta strode into the room, Bulma's heart skipped at the sight of him and she suddenly felt weak for want. She wanted to feel his arms around her, his lips crushing her's. She wanted to be taken by him deep into the night and the wee hours of the morning, over and over, savagely. "Or things will become very messy for you."  
  
"Give up this delicious morsel?" He asked, raising a silvery eyebrow at the Saiyan prince, "You have got to be kidding!"  
  
"Try me."  
  
"As long as I still have her, you will do nothing." He said, "Try to harm me and I will not hesitate to kill the girl."  
  
Vegeta shrugged, looking indifferent, though all his insides screamed at him that Bulma, the woman he loved, was in trouble and he must not.would not lose her! "Go ahead. Kill her. Makes no difference to me." He raised his hands and got ready to form a ki blast, the energy crackling around him like a lightning storm, "You are going to die."  
  
Sudden fear flashed across the other man's face and he shoved Bulma towards him, "Please!" He cried, and now Vegeta could see his true colors. Coward that he was, taking his pleasure from creatures weaker than him and hurting them to make himself feel bigger, Vegeta did not stop his ki ball from forming, "I let her go! D-don't hurt me!"  
  
"Too late." Vegeta said, his voice low, as he threw the orb, it exploded on contact with the crazed madman. He turned to his wife, who was shaken but alive. Thankfully alive. He pulled her close and looked up into her eyes before taking her mouth with his own. How he'd missed her taste, her scent. He held her tight. How he'd missed her.  
  
When he broke away from her, Piccolo was standing there, behind them. Vegeta shoved her towards him and said; "Get her out of here, Piccolo." He began to power up, anger so deep she could almost taste it issueing off of him like steam, "Things are about to get messy."  
  
"Wait!" Bulma cried, and Piccolo lifted her up off the ground and prepared to leave with her, "Vegeta! The women and children! They have to get out! Vegeta!"  
  
Piccolo had already took off and Bulma wasn't certain if her words had carried to him, for Vegeta gave no sign of having heard. She sobbed against Piccolo's cape as he carried her to safty. 


	12. Nightmare's End

Giselle was out, like usual, hunting the monsters who preyed on the living, her skill and speed had increased much since Piccolo had become her watcher. She wasn't cold or hungry anymore and sleeping with four walls and a roof over her head in a warm bed with clean blankets and sheets felt so good she had no words to discribe the feeling.  
  
A vamp swung at her, it's brute strength and swiftness nearly a match for her. She knew that the older vampires could be tireless fighters, skill and speed born of time and experience. She held the stake in one hand, twisting her body as the vampire, saliva dripping from it's fanged mouth, eyes cat-like and yellow, came after her.  
  
She slipped on the muddy ground, losing her balance. No! She cried within her head as the monster smiled, licking his lips, already savoring his prize. Nothing tasted sweeter, every bloodsucker knew, than the blood of a slayer. He leapt for her, mouth wide in antispation.  
  
Screaming, Giselle flipped over, gained her feet and plunged the sharpened wood deep into the creature's chest, twisting it for good measure. "I'm no body's thanksgiving turkey!"  
  
With a look of shock in his widened eyes and a gasp, the vampire expired in a puff of dust and ash, falling at once to settle on the ground around her. Giselle shook her head, she really hated this part, the disgusting mess they made when they died.  
  
"Giselle!" She heard her name and spun around, Goten floated in the air above her, his eyes wild with concern, "Piccolo's returned! He's brought Bulma back!"  
  
She felt her heart tighten. She was glad for the woman, even though she'd never met her before. But anyone in that place who escaped she felt happy for. She consentrated, for she was still unpractised and it took her longer than a mere thought that she wished to do so for her to lift herself from the ground, Giselle found her center and rose, slowly from the ground.  
  
Joining her friend, she followed in his wake back towards the house.  
  
"You don't understand!" Bulma was screaming, crying, refusing the mug of warm tea Chi Chi was struggling to push into her hands; "Vegeta's going to destroy that place and there are kids there! Women and kids!"  
  
Giselle heard the last part of what the blue haired frantic woman was saying and grit her teeth. She'd seen what the proud warrior could do, when he was mad enough. All those kids..No! She did not think that Vegeta would wait to get everyone to safty before unleashing his wrath. No, she knew, he was far too volatile and sponsanious. She grabbed Goten's arm; "We have to get there, Goten! We have to save them!"  
  
She meant the kids and their mothers, Goten was certain, not the monsters who'd kept them for so long. He nodded, and lifting her this time so they could make better time, took off into the air, following Giselle's directions back to that place of horror and pain she'd left only a few years before.  
  
Vegeta was already in the sky above the ground under which rested the facility. He was throwing poweful ki blasts at the ground, exploding the dirt and making large craters that exposed the roofs of the large building. He did not stop once those roofs came into veiw but continued his onslaught with all the force of the rage Giselle saw flashing in his ebony eyes.  
  
Goten flew up to Vegeta, still holding Giselle in his arms; he screamed; "Vegeta! Stop it! Stop! There are innocent women and children in there! You'll kill them!"  
  
"Please!" Giselle cried, the tears in her eyes falling down to wet the front of Goten's gi, "Let us go in and get them out, then you can do as you like, Vegeta."  
  
Vegeta had paused in his attacks, but the anger he wanted to unleash, continue to unleash was held barely in check. Giselle saw his fingers twitch as they become fists at his side. Finally, though it took much effort, he growled out; "Go!"  
  
"T-thank." Giselle began but Vegeta snarled at her, he was beyond good manners.  
  
"Just go! Get them out of here!" He said though clenched teeth, "Then you both better get out of here!"  
  
Goten and Giselle need not have worried much about how they were going to get past the gaurds, Both of them could have easily took them out had they needed to. But, the women, sensing not all was as it should be, after hearing the blasts made by Vegeta that shook their inclosed world to it's foundations, and upon seeing the roof caving, had taken those moments to stage a revolt.  
  
Armed with the only weapons they could find; plastic kitchen knives, chairs, broken glass from the pictures which hung along walls in the hallwasy, the women beat or killed their tormentors. Years of supressed rage and hurt along with the very real need to survive at any cost, made the women's attack far more brutal than they needed to be. Giselle winced at the carnage around her. She could almost feel sorry for them, almost. She heard wimpering and kicked aside a fallen body with a large piece of glass jutting from his torn throat and followed the sound. She burst into one of the playrooms, scent and sight all pummeled her at once and the memories came back ten-fold. Amber's face flashed before her.  
  
She shook her head. That was the past. This is now. Think about now, Giselle! She scolded herself, rushing forward to gather up a small child in her arms, the one who had been whimpering while the others gathered around in fear and silence.  
  
"Shhh." She soothed, smoothing the child's golden curls, "It's going to be all right. Everything's going to be all right."  
  
"They're destroying this place." A boy, about ten from the looks of him, spoke aloud to no one; "We're going to die."  
  
"No you are not." Goten stood there, he had a few more with him, Giselle wasn't certain how he could have been fast enough to fly home and gather more people, but they were there now and that was all that mattered. She recognized Chi Chi's husband; Goku, Vegeta's lavender haired boy; Trunks, the shorter warrior whose name, she recalled was Krillin, the namek, her watcher, Piccolo and another, she did not know, hairless and three eyed.that last made her pause for a moment, then shrug. She was getting used to surprises. "Come with us, kids. Let's get the hell outta here."  
  
Each warrior took up two of the little ones, bearing them into the air, carrying to to safty. One little girl screamed out, held by Piccolo, the other girl he held looked so much like her than she had to be her sister, if not her twin; "Mommy! Mommy's down there!"  
  
"Come back for the mothers!" Goten yelled, and Giselle and he set about locating them and gathering them all up into one area. As it was there were only about thirteen women there. It had always seemed to Giselle that there were more. They gathered in the playroom the children had just been in. A red-haired young woman appoached Giselle, touching her face with one cold hand; "I always knew one day you would come back to save us, Giselle."  
  
"Cerise." Giselle said, recalling the other's name, "Don't worry, your getting out of her. Everyone's getting out of here."  
  
Without speaking, Cerise hugged her, when she broke away, the gratefulness in her eyes was nearly tangible. 


	13. Family

They had gotten all of the women and children out, safe, and had taken them to a shelter whose volunteers were glad to take the much abused and hurting little families into their tender care and understanding.  
  
Giselle stood at the enterance to the shelter, Goten at her side, and bent down to touch the two tow-headed twins Piccolo had carried away from the horror that day, smiling at them. They had lost their mother in the chaos.  
  
The woman had not been able to escape, tied hand and foot as she had been, locked in a distant room awaiting the cruel attentions of the facity's scientists she had not been able to reach the playroom with the others and get out.  
  
Giselle had known the twins when they'd been infants and toddlers.  
  
"Little ones," She said to them, their huge aqua eyes looking up at her as if she were a Goddess of some sort, full of love and awe and a little fear, "I know you've lost much. I'm so sorry. But the nice people here can help you."  
  
She turned to go, felt an ache in her chest for the little girls who had lost so much.lost their mother as she had once lost her's. She was just as much an orphan and they. She felt an tugging on her gi and looked back. Down. One of the twins was gazing up at her with fear in her eyes.  
  
"Don't go!" She cried, and her twin took up that cry, tugging on her other side, "Please don't leave us!"  
  
Her heart breaking, Giselle bent down and one knee and gathered the children to her, cuddling them close. How could she leave them? She thought and at the same time; How can I do other? I am the Slayer. I have no time for.  
  
But those little hands pulling on her, tugging at her, those cries rending her heart, touched her in ways she never imagined. She could not bring happiness to every child left hurt and alone by that madman, Leander's, schemes, she knew. She picked up both children, balancing them upon her hips and strode into the old, brick-red building.  
  
Goten, uncertain as to what, exactly, Giselle had in mind, followed in her wake, always in awe of her. He knew that he loved her. He had known from the moment she'd emerged from the bathroom, all clean and pretty to help him eat the pizza his mother had bought. The little girls, afraid that they were about to be left behind, started wailing once more, hurting Giselle's senstive ears.  
  
"Quiet!" She hissed at them between her teeth, "I'm not leaving you! Now settle down and let me figure this out."  
  
She did not bother to knock on the office door, but burst right in. She looked at the haggered-looking woman in the nun's habit with silver cross dangling upon her matronly bosom, and said; "I wish to take these two with me, Mother."  
  
The Mother Superior merely took off her glasses and began to wipe them clean with a clothe she had produced from somewhere in her flowing garments. At last she looked at Giselle and then at Goten, finally at the the twins sobbing, but not wailing anymore, clutching to Giselle's gi as if their lives depended on it. And perhaps it did.  
  
"There are procedures, Miss Walker." She said, "And you are too young to adopt anyway."  
  
"I am taking them with me." Giselle said, her voice low, threatening, "I did not ask your permission."  
  
"Then, my dear," The woman said, just as calmly, not afraid to meet the Slayer's blazing eyes, "You would be charged with kidnapping."  
  
Giselle struggled within herself for the right thing to do. She went to set the girls on their feet, but they clung to her even tighter than before, as if sensing her wavering. They would not be left behind! She glanced at Goten, silently asking him to help her with this.  
  
"Wait here." He said, feeling horrible for the little twins, if they had to leave them to be raised by the volunteers at an shelter and not a mother and a father. He spun about and raced through the building, not even bothering to wait for the door to swing shut before he took to the air.  
  
Giselle waited and it did not seem to take all that long for Goten to return. He was not alone. She was stilling standing in front of the nun's desk holding the girls when Goten, along with his father, Goku and mother, Chi Chi, walked in. Chi Chi's eyes lit up at the sight of the darling little doll-like girls, so much alike that she looked from one to the other in astonishment.  
  
"They are so precious!" She exclaimed, reaching out to touch one on her rosy cheek, the girl moved away from her touch, but something in her eyes touched Chi Chi's heart and she moved to take the child from Giselle. "Shh.it's all right." She soothed the child, who had pulled away from her at first, a stranger, and then, a deep need within the little girl that would not be ignored caused her to wrap her small arms about Chi Chi and hug her tight.  
  
Being the mother that she was, Chi Chi reacted in the only way she knew how. She held the little one close as a mother would, comforting her. Giselle set her twin down and saw out of the corner of her eye the girl slowly approach Chi Chi, who had smiled and opened her her arms wider to give the other child access to her soft, motherly embrace.  
  
"Where are the papers and stuff?" Goku asked the nun behind the desk, he wanted to make his wife and son happy and if adopting these little girls would do that, than that is just what he would do. Besides, they could afford it, he knew, and they were cute.  
  
"There are procedures."  
  
"Damn it!" Giselle cried, smashing her fist on the desk, "They've lost their mother and the only home they ever knew! Screw the procedures! Can't you just turn a blind eye, just this once?"  
  
She looked at the young girl storming before her, her anger came from caring so deeply. Then at the man standing, his strong arm about his wife who was engrossed in the children bending down to their level and sighed. She could see that there would probably be no more loving family for the girls than this one.  
  
She ophened a drawer and slide and sheet of paper across to Goku along with a pen; "You must sign this.and then your wife must sign."  
  
"And then.that's all?" He asked, "We can take them home?"  
  
She smiled. The twins, along with the rest of the women and children, had arrived just that morning. There had not been time yet to put their information into the computers. It would be as if they'd never even been there..  
  
"That's it." She said, "You may wish to change their first names, though, just in case."  
  
Giselle knew what she was referring to. Though the liklihood of any of the madman's cronies surviving Vegeta's onslaught was dim, and the chance that they would come after the girls even dimmer, Giselle did not wish to take any chances. She nodded at Goku; "Change their names. It's for the best."  
  
"Let's go home, kids." Chi Chi, taking each girl by the hand, after she had taken the pen from her husband to put her name next to his childlike scrawl, "I'll bake some nice chocolate cookies for you!"  
  
Sniffing, but happy, the girls held onto their new gaurdian's hands and Giselle saw them glance at each other. She was shocked to hear as well as feel thir little voices in her head.  
  
** We did it, sis! **  
  
** Sure did! Now we have a new home and a new Mommy! **  
  
** Giselle did it! She's the best! **  
  
Giselle smiled and took Goten's hand, following the now slightly larger family outside.  
  
A/N: Full thanks and credit will go to someone who can come up with names for the twins.. 


	14. Sparring

A/N: This was originally written as a stand-alone fic, but since it fits into the story here, I decided to end the tale with it.*lemon* ahead!  
  
The following takes place after the events in the story.  
  
She stood panting before him, leaning over, hands grasping her knees as persperation dripped from her face onto the dirt of the ground below her. She looked up and shoved her damp hair from her eyes with an absent gesture, grinning at him in that feckless way she had. "Wanna go another round, Goten?"  
  
He looked at her, breathing heavy but not nearly as much she had and did not notice his aching muscles or torn gi, nor even the small droplets of rain that had begun to decend from the summer afternoon sky. She'd been his friend for nearly three months and all that time, she'd only ever allowed him to taste her mouth, nothing more.even if he was aching for more. No, what Goten noticed was her heaving bosom, so pert and perfect as to be almost unreal, how he longed to feel those lush globes beneath his wandering hands, to reach down and taste their erect nipples. He wondered, would they taste sweet or salty?  
  
"Goten?" She asked, walking up to him, "Are you all right?"  
  
He looked down into her face. It was not a beautiful face, by society's standards, but it held a kind of prettiness to it that was at once breathtakingly erotic and innocently childlike all at once. He looked at her mouth, half open in an unspoken question, her small tongue darted out, wetting her lips and she looked at him with eyes like the deepest secret ever held.  
  
"Have I ever told you." He breathed, taking in her scent as he had so many times before when she'd never been aware.when she'd allowed him to kiss her or gaze at her from across the table while they'd been sharing a pizza or a game of cards, "How much I admire you.?"  
  
"Many times." She said, as softly as him, she seemed to be waiting for something. For him to kiss her, certainly, that was a given. But, as she stood within his mesmerizing gaze she knew she wanted more. She wanted him. "Goten."  
  
He reached out and pressed her body against his own, her breasts felt wonderful against his chest, sweat-drenched and dirty from their recent spar. He felt the buds of her breasts harden as he ran his hands down the sides of her gi, where her breasts strained the material. She sighed and gripped his shoulders, unsure of what, exactly, she wanted. She breathed his name as he suddenly, swiftly, placed an arm under her knees and one across her back and lifted her from the ground, taking off into the blue sky before she could utter any words of protest.  
  
Not that she could have, even if she'd wanted to. She was running her tongue along the inside of his mouth and feeling numerous little ant's feet crawing up and down her skin as she tasted every recess of his fiery, willing mouth on her's. She never failed to be surprised every time he kissed her. Every single time made her feel as if an unknown weakness had crept over her limbs and tore her all asunder at the seams.  
  
"Giselle." He said, saying her name against her mouth and making her shiver deep inside. He'd found a place to land, she did not much care where as all that filled her senses were him. He laid her down on the grass and slowly, with his eyes alone, at first, undressed her. It was pure agony as he removed her sweat-stained gi and raked his dark, heated gazed over her body brazenly.  
  
She gasped in surprise when she felt his hands stroking down the sides of her body, a sensation she'd never experienced before was vying for her attentions. She shoved her fingers through his hair and grasped twin handfuls, pulling him gently, yet firmly, towards her. She did not release her eyes from his as she claimed his mouth in yet another blistering kiss. Goten felt her stiffen when his hand wandered from her hip to her thigh and touched gently the sensitive skin there.  
  
"Shhh.it's all right." He whisped, soothingly, wanting to allay her fears and continue her pleasure. Even though she'd called him 'kid' upon their intial meeting, he was nearly a year older than her and he'd had more experience, in some matters, than she. He gently moved his palm over and over the flesh of thigh, feeling her relax as he did so, the sudden fear drifting from her red-flecked brown eyes. "I would never hurt you, Giselle."  
  
She nodded, knowing it to be true and involuntarily spread her thighs a fraction of an inch apart. It was enough. Goten breathed shallowly as he felt her wetness with his exploring hand. She shuddered and balled her fists in his hair, clenching and unclenching them as he dipped a finger into her folds experimentally. She felt so hot and moistened against his hand that he had to stuggle with himself not to take her then and there. His own hardness pushing against the clothe of his gi, demanding to be set free.  
  
"Goten.what are you.?" She spoke softly, almost pleadingly, she moaned deep in her throat as his fingers found her bud of womanhood and flicked it back and forth, causing her to writhe beneath his body, his manhood pressing up against her as he pleasured her. He would have to have her soon.he knew.he couldn't hold off for much longer. But he refused to have his satifaction until she'd had her's. He grit his teeth and called upon all his Saiyan blood to keep himself in check. "I...I.can't.Goten.!" She cried out, not understanding her own body's reaction and not honestly knowing if she wanted it to cease or never to stop for the rest of her life.  
  
Giselle rocked her hips against his hand and he felt her come as her opening tighten upon his fingers and her juices soaked the skin of his hand, her breathing coming out in sharp little intakes of breath and soft whimpering sounds that she'd never before heard herself make but which sounded like the sweetest music to Goten. He positioned himself over her and she gazed up at him, there was no fear in her eyes. Only trust.longing and.yes.love. She reached down and felt his hardness, caressing it's length even as he groaned at her somewhat still timid actions. He knew he could not wait any longer.  
  
With a growl that sounded more animal than human, Goten pushed her thighs farther apart and guided himself towards her enterance. Before he could plunge inside of her damp, tight crevice, however, he paused; "Giselle? You've never done this before, have you?"  
  
She shook her head; "But, don't worry, Goten." She said, her voice quiet, "I'm not afraid.and I want you to.Please."  
  
It was more than he could bear. He pushed himself into her and felt her clench around him, tighter than a glove, and heard her cry of pain as her maiden's barrier was breached. He moved slowly, taking one of her nipples into his mouth and sucking gently, working to help her leave the pain behind and enjoy the pleasure.  
  
She'd never felt anything like it in her entire life. She'd never felt so.full.complete.as when he was inside her. Her own flesh wrapped about his length and hardness as if her body had known, all along, even if her mind had not, that this was where he was meant to be.in all his life.with her.inside of her.filling her.  
  
Their bodies moved together in a timeless dance, the music was the pounding of their hearts and the breath which passed between them as one. She felt him stiffen above her and felt her own release only seconds after his. She heard him say her name during those precious seconds and it's sound filled her heart with a kind of joy she'd not known existed.  
  
And in those last, gratifying moments when her body was ablaze with a kind of fire she found both terrifying and exciting, she'd told him that she loved him. Goten's senses were overwhelmed with happiness at those words. He'd kissed her until they were both ready, once more, for another round.  
  
A/N: This is officially the end of the story.but there most likely will be a sequel! So stay tuned! 


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